Time And (ir)Relevant Dimension In Space
by Pir8grl
Summary: Three TARDISes, three Doctors, and three companions in one place. Please don't bother looking for a rational explanation for this, because the answer is "Because I wanted these interactions to happen." :-) I honestly thought this one was finished...and then I got more ideas. :-)
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor didn't both to turn around when the TARDIS door opened and then shut. "Good. I'm glad you're back, Clara. I don't like these readings at all - far too wibbley-wobbley - I want to get out of here as soon as possib-erk!" His sentence ended in a strangled gurgle as the point of a knife was pressed into his throat.

"Who are you?" a voice demanded from behind him. He hadn't heard that voice in ever so long, and had never expected to again. "Where is the Doctor, and what have you done to the TARDIS?" The point of the knife prodded a bit deeper. "Answer me, or die!"

The doors opened again, and this time, the Doctor prayed most sincerely that it was **_not _**Clara.

"Ah, Leela. Do put the knife away, there's a good girl."

"Doctor! Who is this? Look what he's done to the TARDIS! Make him change it back."

"Leela." The voice carried a firm note of command this time. "Leave the gentleman alone. This is his TARDIS, not ours. We've just wandered into the wrong one. Honest mistake…do forgive us."

The Doctor turned slowly away from the console once the pressure of the knife receded. He massaged his throat gently. "Nothing to forgive, old chap." It was a very strange sensation, looking into his own eyes, even if they weren't the same ones he was accustomed to seeing in the mirror lately. Those wide blue eyes were attached to the same very clever brain as his, and were beginning to be filled with a shadowy understanding of the situation.

"I never expected to see you here," the Doctor remarked casually to his curly haired counterpart. "Any clue as to how our…itineraries…happened to coincide?"

"None whatsoever."

"I was afraid of that," the Doctor mumbled under his breath.

"Not to be rude, but I suspect the wisest course of action is for Leela and I to locate our own TARDIS as quickly as possible."

"Agreed. It was...good to see you both again."

"Again?" Leela asked, puzzled.

"Come along, Leela. I'll take you to Serengeti Twelve, and you can hunt antelopes," the other Doctor suggested brightly.

"What are antelopes?"

"You'll like them," the Doctor couldn't help adding with a fond smile. "Make splendid barbeque." He watched them depart the TARDIS, wondering what the hell was going on, and where Clara had gotten herself to. Clara. He smacked himself in the forehead. "Wait!" he called out before the door could swing shut.

The other Doctor poked his face back inside.

"I seem to have misplaced my friend, Clara. Pretty girl, red dress, long dark hair?"

"I'm afraid I haven't seen her," his other self replied. "I did see a blond haired young lady, accompanied by a rather tall chap with the most enormous ears I've ever seen."

"You're a fine one to talk about enormous...look at that scarf!"

"Be very careful," the younger Doctor cautioned. "There's something very strange about this place...too many timelines converging. Best find your friend quickly." He took one last look around the control room and a broad grin brightened his features. "I love what you've done with the place!"

* * *

Clara slid down the wall and curled up, hugging her knees to her chest. She was by now thoroughly scared and disoriented, and tears were threatening. She heard footsteps and looked up into the face of a blonde girl just a bit younger than herself.

"Hello," the girl said in a soft voice with a cockney accent. "You OK?"

Clara just shook her head.

The other girl knelt in front of her with a friendly smile. "My name's Rose. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I just stepped outside…just for a quick look 'round…I didn't mean to go far…"

"But the corridors, they keep changin'?"

Clara nodded.

"Rose! Where are you? I told you not to wander off!" an irate voice bellowed from around the corner.

"Over here, Doctor. I've found someone!"

"Doctor? You know the Doctor?" Clara asked hopefully.

"Sure. That's him comin' now," Rose said cheerfully. "We'll get you sorted."

"Rose. You've got to stay right with me, now. There's something very strange goin' on with the timelines here and I can't risk you getting lost."

Clara looked up in confusion at the tall man in the black leather jacket.

"But…you said you were with the Doctor," she faltered.

"Yeah," Rose replied. "That's him, right there."

"No it's not."

"Yes, it is. I'm the Doctor. Who are you?" he demanded.

"Doctor," Rose ground out from between clenched teeth, "she's already scared half to death. Enough with the 'Oncomin' Storm' already."

He glanced at her in exasperation, then focused on the terrified girl on the floor. He sighed, then crouched down in front of her, smiling blandly. "What's your name?"

"Clara."

"Clara. Pretty name. What's got you frightened so badly?"

"I got lost! The corridors keep changing, and I can't find my way back to the TARDIS - the ship I came here in - and then there was this…this cave girl…with a really big knife…"

"Wait. You came here in a TARDIS?" he demanded.

"She said she was traveling with you," Rose told him.

"No…with the Doctor," Clara insisted. "But you're not him…or…" She leaned forward suddenly and placed her hands on his chest. "Two hearts," she whispered. "But how is that possible? He said he was the last one…"

"I am."

"Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Hush, both o' you," he ordered. His mind whirled, trying to make sense of the situation. A girl he'd never seen before, who knew about TARDISes and Time Lords with two hearts…a cave girl with a knife - he certainly knew someone who fit that description. Blimey…just how many of him were running around this place?

"Couldn't she come with us?" Rose asked.

"No. Time's not working properly here right now, and we can't afford to make any changes. She's got to go back with the Doctor she arrived with, and we absolutely can't interact with her any more."

"We can't just leave her!" Rose protested.

"Rose, we have to."

"Please don't leave me here alone!" Clara begged.

His hearts twisted at the idea of abandoning this girl…there was something about her that was so very much like his Rose, but… "We don't have any choice. Come on, Rose." He started to extend his hand to Rose, but suddenly gestured for silence, his more acute hearing picking out the sound of rushing footsteps, still too far away for either girl to hear.

"Clara! Clara, where are you?"

"Here! I'm here!"

The Doctor huffed out his breath explosively. "There you are. Right as rain. Rose. Now." He grasped her hand firmly and took off down the corridor at a dead run, away from the other Doctor's voice.

* * *

The Doctor skidded around the corner and saw Clara huddled on the floor. "Are you all right?" he asked gently. She nodded, and he reached down to grasp her hands firmly and pull her to her feet. He wrapped both arms around her in a fierce embrace and simply held on for a long moment. Finally, he pulled back slightly and held her face in his hands. "You're sure you're not hurt?"

"Just scared," she replied sheepishly.

He stooped down slightly to kiss her forehead. "Quite right. This is a scary place." He kissed the end of her nose whimsically and was rewarded with the ghost of a smile. "Now listen, Clara, I want you to hold tight to my hand, and whatever happens, **_do not_** let go. The timelines are behaving very strangely here, and the walls keep moving. We can't risk getting separated."

"No argument here," Clara replied, interlacing her fingers firmly with his, and wrapping her other hand around his arm for good measure.

"And one more thing," he added suddenly. "You can't ask me any questions about anyone else you may have seen here. It's very important, all right?"

"All right," she replied slowly, and the Doctor could see a certain something in her eyes which confirmed that his warning had come just in time.

They followed the twisting and turning maze of corridors for a while, the Doctor periodically checking the sonic, until they came to a familiar blue police box.

"I've never been so glad to see anything in my life," Clara said fervently, her head slumping to his shoulder in relief.

The Doctor politely ushered Clara inside, then walked straight into her back, as she'd stopped just one step inside the control room. A control room which featured organic looking struts and a battered jump seat. A girl's denim jacket hung over the railing. How many times had he picked that up from wherever it landed, and folded it, with military precision? And how many times had he grumbled about that damn pink plastic hairbrush that kept turning up in all the most inappropriate places?

"Doctor?"

"Wrong TARDIS. Come on….let's go!" He grabbed hold of Clara's hand again and practically dragged her outside.

"But how can it be the wrong TARDIS?"

"Clara, hush…no questions. Our lives may depend on it."

They started down the corridor and nearly collided with the leather-jacketed Doctor and Rose.

"Yours, I believe," the Doctor said, gesturing to the TARDIS. He watched as his former self all but shoved Rose through the doors, then unable to help himself, he called out. "Doctor?"

"Don't," the other replied flatly.

"I know…I know… Only just…take good care of her, won't you?"

His former self nodded curtly, then slammed the TARDIS doors shut. A few seconds later, it vanished from sight.

"Doctor? Where's our TARDIS?"

He fiddled with the sonic some more, turning about as the signals changed. Finally, he settled on one corridor. "That way!" he said triumphantly. He dragged Clara down the corridor, only to be met with the last echoes of a dematerializing TARDIS. "Nonononono!"

"Doctor! What's going on? How many -"

He spun around and shushed her with gentle fingers against her lips. "Not now, Clara. No questions until we're safe." He started fiddling with the sonic one handed, irritated when he felt Clara's muffled words against his other hand.

Exasperated, she finally kicked him in the shin.

"Oww! Clara!"

"Doctor, look. There's only one corridor now."

He looked, and found that she was right, and moreover, there was a brilliantly blue police public call box standing at the end of it. "Clara?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Run." He took her hand and dashed down the corridor and into the TARDIS, which thankfully was their own. He hurriedly reset the coordinates and sent them spinning into the time vortex.

"Doctor?" Clara asked from the steps, where she was sprawled, trying to catch her breath. "What was that, exactly?"

"Don't know, exactly," the Doctor replied airily. "Some sort of spatial temporal…er…"

"Anomaly?" Clara supplied.

"Well, I was going to say wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey-ness, but yes, I suppose anomaly works just as well."


	2. Chapter 2

"Doctor, who were those people?"

The Doctor pressed his lips together, holding back a sigh. '_Rule one,_' he thought, _'the Doctor lies…' _"Just some old friends, Leela. Other Time Lords."

"The one in black is a warrior," she observed.

"What makes you say that?" he asked carefully, respecting Leela's instincts in such matters.

"His eyes…they've seen too many battles."

The Doctor couldn't fathom what circumstance could change him so drastically, and he also knew that he **_really_** shouldn't pursue the matter too deeply. Distraction…he needed a distraction…

"I didn't know that your people had warriors. And the funny one…why did his TARDIS look just like yours on the outside, but different inside?"

"Well, as I said, it's his TARDIS, he can decorate it any way he likes."

"And what did he mean when he said it was good to see us again?"

"He meant just what he said."

"But, Doctor…"

"Why don't you run along and fetch your bow and arrows? We're nearly to Serengeti Twelve."

* * *

"Doctor, who were those people?"

The Doctor huffed out an irritated breath. He suspected that this very same conversation was taking place on three different TARDISes, scattered throughout time and space. He supposed he should just be grateful that he wasn't the one trying to find a way around explaining it to Leela. He knew - absolutely **knew** - that he shouldn't ponder the day's events too closely, but something in his soul shrank back from the knowledge that Rose wouldn't always be with him, and he found the future Doctor's words foreboding.

"Doctor?"

He smiled down at the bright, young face beside him, a genuine smile that only she could coax from him and held out his hand. Rose took it instantly, the way she always did. Giving in to impulse, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Come here," he said, leading her to the jump seat. "Rose…" he trailed off, not entirely sure how to begin. "Those people we saw today…we were stuck in some sort of temporal anomaly…we should never have been able to all be together at the same time."

"I don't understand."

"Rose, the only way to make you understand is to tell you something about me, about my people. It's something you should know, so you won't be frightened if I -"

His explanation was abruptly cut off as the console room seemed to tilt on its axis and alert klaxons started to blare. It was all he could do to hold on to Rose as they were tossed violently to the floor. It would be quite some time before he recalled that they'd never finished this conversation, and by that time, it was far too late.

* * *

"Doctor, who were those people?"

He'd been expecting the question all day. He supposed he actually had the easiest job of the three of them…no need to worry about mucking up his own future before it could happen. He sighed as he sank down to sit on the steps. "Come here, Clara," he invited, holding out his hand.

She took it and sat down beside him.

"Clara, that man you met, in the black leather jacket…he was me."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I know…I know," he gripped her hand tightly in both his own. "Just…just listen, and I'll try to explain. We were caught in some sort of -"

"Anomaly," she finished the sentence for him.

"Anomaly," he agreed, smiling just a bit. "Three different versions of myself were in one place. That should be impossible, except that well…it happened."

"What do you mean, different versions of yourself?"

"Clara, I'm over nine hundred years old, but I've only looked like this for just the last few. A while ago, I wore that black leather jacket, and those unfortunately large ears, and traveled with a girl named Rose."

"I liked her," Clara interjected.

"So did I," the Doctor replied with a sigh. "And quite a long time before that, I looked altogether different and traveled with someone called Leela."

"The cave girl? The one with the knife?"

"That's right," he chuckled.

"But how is that possible?"

"It's a gift of my people. When our bodies become injured to the point of death, we can regenerate. Our bodies heal themselves…but even more than that…we change…look different, sound different…"

Clara swallowed hard trying to process the information. "What about your memories? I mean, if you were to change right now…would you remember me?"

He turned and took her face firmly in both his hands. "Clara Oswald, in all my life, all those centuries, I've never once forgotten anyone who's traveled with me. I remember each and every time I had to convince Leela that her knife wasn't the best solution to every problem, and every time I had to pick up Rose's jacket off the deck, and so much more…and I could never, **_ever _**forget you." He stared into her lovely brown eyes, hoping so desperately that she would understand…believe in him.

Clara reached out tentatively and placed her hands on his chest, feeling the steady beat of both his hearts. Two hearts…nine centuries of life…and all the wonderful, amazing things he'd shown her. There was never really any question. She looked up at him and smiled. "Never ever?"

She slipped both arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. The Doctor sighed in relief and kissed the top of her head.

"Anything else you'd like to share, Doctor?"


End file.
